


We Live For This

by katebishoop



Series: tumblr prompts [10]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Driving Lessons, F/M, Fluff, Post-Season/Series 02, the adventure squad's all here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 20:00:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6253936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katebishoop/pseuds/katebishoop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke's back, but she's still having trouble adjusting to life in Arkadia. Bellamy and the gang have a plan to fix that.</p><p>(or, the happy rover fic)</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Live For This

**Author's Note:**

> **anonymous asked:** Prompt: the delinquents all pile into the rover/gather around for Clarke's first driving lesson in which they make fun of her terrible driving skills and listen to great music and have some much needed fun
> 
> thanks to [Lana](http://marauders-groupie.tumblr.com) for suggesting the [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnQS0FGaBbg) also providing tons of motivation <3
> 
>  
> 
> _*aggressively ignores season 3 canon*_

“Hey, watch it!” Raven slides out from under the rover, glaring at him. “Why do you have to be so  _ forceful  _ with everything?”

“Good morning to you too.” Bellamy says as he loads the rover up. He doesn’t _ need  _ to slam the bag on the roof every morning, but that doesn’t mean he won’t. Especially if it annoys her.

Miller comes up to behind him clamps a hand on his shoulder in greeting. “Where are we headed today? Sector seven?” Bellamy flashes him a grin; it takes Miller a second, but soon enough he’s sporting one too when he gets Bellamy’s meaning. Their mission today wasn't a routine one. “This is gunna be good.”

They get the rover all packed - food for lunch, an extra tank of gas, an only  _ slightly _ hungover Jasper buckled into the shotgun seat. Raven, nagging both of them constantly as they do so, in that begrudgingly affectionate way that she does.

There’s only one thing missing.

“...What did you need me for?” Bellamy’s ears perk up when he hears her voice drift into the hangar.

“Bellamy didn’t tell you?” Monty’s voice this time.

And that’s his cue.

“You’re coming with us today,” Bellamy says as he turns around to face them.

Clarke looks genuinely surprised, her eyes going wide. She looks to Monty, but he just gives her a sympathetic look and piles into the rover after Miller.

“Why?” She’s nervous - playing with the hem of her shirt. He knows that she still feels out of place, like she’s walking on eggshells as she adjusts to this new life in Arkadia. She hasn’t even been outside the wall since they found her. And he knows that he hasn’t done much to help her with that - they may have hashed things out to an extent, but it’s still different, strained. He’s been avoiding her; he’s been distant and cold. But that was all about to change. 

“It’s about time, don’t you think?” Bellamy shrugs. He can be nonchalant about it; it’s not like he’s doing a grand, dramatic gesture for her or anything. Except that’s exactly what he’s doing, but she doesn’t need to know that. Not yet. “Besides, I think you’re ready.”

The small smile Clarke gives him, her genuine surprise and joy - it’s the reason why he’s doing this. He couldn’t take her frown anymore, and he definitely couldn’t take being the main cause of it. He wasn’t kidding anyone when he said he didn't care. It was about time that he stopped pretending.

Miller shuts the door behind Clarke and shouts to Raven that they’re ready. The hangar doors open, and Lincoln and Octavia wave to them from atop their horses before taking off towards the gate.

Now Bellamy’s prepared for what comes next, but Clarke isn’t - and when Raven floors it, Clarke is thrown into his shoulder, and she has to grab onto his knee to steady herself.

“You’ll get used to the feel!” Raven calls back. Bellamy can see her grinning like a maniac in the rearview mirror.

He turns back to Clarke. She’s still got her hand on his knee; she gives him a small, shy smile, before she starts to pull back, but he swings an arm around her, his hand settling on her hip.

He leans into her, her mouth brushing her hair, and whispers: “I’ve got you.”

They’re way past the gates when Miller starts getting antsy - or more like, pumped up, since it's _Miller_ \- and demands music. Jasper plugs in the music player that had belonged to Maya into the speakers, the music wafting over them.

_ “ _ _ Don't wanna wait till the mornin,’ _ ” Miller sings along,  _ “Don't wanna wait till the mornin' comes.” _

He nudges Monty’s shoulder, and Monty rolls his eyes, but Bellamy can see the blush creep up on his cheeks. 

“ _ There's mud on my shoes, there's sun on my skin _ .” Raven and Jasper have joined in from the front. Monty’s still pointedly  _ not _ looking at Miller; he’s always reluctant to join in on these things, and it’s adorable really, how Monty pretends to be indifferent.

Clarke’s trying to sing along, but she doesn’t know the words. She’s mostly just bobbing her head along to the beat, repeating some of the words after Miller’s sung them. He can’t help grinning at the sight, and she huffs at him when she sees his expression.

He’s heard the song enough times to know what comes next: the part where their singing practically turns into screaming, the part where Monty breaks and it’s the part where he breaks, too.

_ “We are the kids that you never can kill,” _ He belts along with the rest of them,  _ “you never can kill, you never can kill.” _

Clarke’s eyes go wide in surprise when she comprehends the lyrics. He’d been the same way when he had first heard them - put off by the irony or the double meaning or whatever the hell had made him do a double take. But he gives her a look behind his smile that says  _ just go with it _ .

Because it was moments like this where they could just forget and let loose and feel weightless and wild and free. Moments like this where they could escape to their own little world; the music transporting their bubble to foriegn times and places. Places with cracked pavement, hazy streetlights, and abandoned railway cars; places with swimming pools, dance floors, and fireworks. Places that, even though they never had and never would experience them, felt strangely familiar. Each one of the forty songs on Maya’s old music player transported them to a place where happiness wasn’t just an absence of sadness, but a pure thing that brought warmth to their chests and smiles to their faces.

So he sings even louder than before -  _ “you like to dance with my finger tips” -  _ to get her to understand and to just  _ let go _ .

And he manages that, at least, because b y the time the chorus rolls around again, she’s bellowing the lyrics out just as loudly, a bright and shining smile on her face. 

* * *

They break for lunch in the meadow, the sun shining brightly above their heads.

Jasper’s sitting on top of the rover, stubbornly refusing to have fun, the earbuds shoved into his ears. Miller is once again trying to ride Helios - but for some reason, horses just don’t like him. He’s barely hanging on as the horse gallops across the field, Monty and Lincoln running after him while Octavia and Raven just stand by and laugh. Octavia, having to slap Raven on the back to keep her laughter from causing her to choke on her sandwich.

Bellamy’s laying away from the group in a patch of shade. The grass is softer than his bed in Arkadia, and the little pockets of sunlight that are peaking through the leaves are warm and soothing like a blanket.

It’s the only time he’s ever able to relax - just lying there and listening to the laughter of his friends.

He isn’t at all surprised when Clarke lies down next to him. It was his intention, after all, to show her all of this, to incorporate her back into the group. To show her that they can find peace in all this chaos.

“You’ve got a bug on your forehead,” is what she says in greeting.

“Happens.”

“You have an excellent singing voice.”

Bellamy snorts, and opens one eye to look at her. She’s leaning on her side facing him, her head propped up by one arm. “You have terrible ears then.”

Clarke rolls her eyes. She reaches over and places a finger on his forehead, and when she pulls away there’s the bug - something small and red and with black spots, a ladybug maybe? He had never paid too much attention to the incset portion of Earth Skills - on the tip. She blows lightly on it, urging it to fly away.

He hears Miller yelp in the distance, followed once again by Octavia’s roaring, mocking laughter. But all the matters is the sound of Clarke’s breathing next to him. 

He’s missed her presence next to him, how it always comforted and reassured him. He’s missed  _ her _ . When she was hundreds of miles away in the forest or on the other side of camp or on the other side of the room. But now she was next to him again, right where she was supposed to be.

“Thank you for all of this,” Clarke says, not quite looking at him, “for- bringing me along and just- Just, thank you, Bellamy. This means a lot, specially from you.”

Her words warm his chest, make the butterflies flap around in his stomach. He could lean up and kiss her right now. He always wants to kiss her: as an apology, as an argument, as a way to get her to shut up. But right now he just wants to kiss her because she’s Clarke, and because he loves her.

But instead he just grins wickedly up at her, because there’s one final reason he brought her along. “Oh, don’t thank me just yet.”

Clarke’s eyes go wide, and then the patches of light are gone as someone’s shadow crosses over them. 

Raven’s smirking down at both of them. “Miller’s finally done horsing around-” Bellamy slaps her good leg for that one, and she shoots him a smug smile. It was an easy one; she shouldn’t be that proud. Raven tosses the keys to the rover down on the ground in front of Clarke. “-so we gotta get going. And _you’re_ driving.”

* * *

“I’m not sure this is a good idea.” Clarke says, her fingers flexing around the steering wheel. “One of you guys should be doing this.”

Bellamy tsks at her as he props his feet up on the dash. “Everyone who goes beyond the wall has to learn how to drive the rover. It’s a safety precaution, and you’re no exception.”

He can’t stop grinning at her pout, her lower lip sticking out all cute like. It's really unfair.

“See that switch?” Raven jambs her head between them from the back. “Turn that, and…”

She gives Clarke the run down, being much more technical than necessary. Are they being unfair, making it difficult for her like this? Probably, but it’s tradition. It’s  _ initiation _ . 

“Everyone hold onto something,” Raven says teasingly as she slides back into her seat.

Clarke takes a nervous glance at him, and he raises an eyebrow. Clarke’s mouth goes into a hard line, he jerks his head towards the trail in front of them, she lets out a breath from her nostrils.

“There doing  _ the thing _ again,” Jasper whispers from behind.

The corner of his mouth turns up in a smirk, her eyes widen and then her whole expression changes. It’s one he hasn’t seen in a long time, of sheer determination. She's not backing down from this challenge.

She turns the engine on and everyone cheers, but are cut off when the rover jerks forward as she puts it into drive.

And again. And again. And _again_.

“Easy on the breaks, will ya?” Clarke had shot out like a bullet, but she kept pumping the breaks every few feet.

Clarke practically growls at him as the rover slams to a stop again.

“Have we finally found something you’re not good at?” He laughs, “Guess this wasn’t covered in Earth Skills, huh?”

“Oh, shut up. Wells did all my Earth Skills homework,” Clarke snaps, “This is-” the gears jams _"_ _ -entirely-”   _ she’s yanking on it, struggling  “- _ diff- _ ”

“Clarke, I think you should-”

“ _ -erent. _ ”

The rover lurches forward and-

_ “Clarke! _ ”

* * *

“I think you're going to need more practice.”

Clarke huffs, blowing a stray hair out of her face. “Raven is never letting me behind the well again.”

“You’re damn right I’m not!” Raven calls up from the ditch that Clarke drove the rover into.

None of the tires popped, thank God, but a boulder ripped some of the undercarriage out. Luckily for all of them, Raven’s always prepared.

Bellamy leans so he can whisper in her ear, “We’ll sneak it out when she's busy in engineering; you’ll be pro in no time.”

Clarke turns her head to face him then, her nose brushing his, and he sucks in a breath. Her eyes dart up to his, considering, and then she’s leaning up on her toes to place her lips gingerly against his cheek.

She doesn’t pull completely back though, instead she winds her arms around his neck and tucks her face into his shoulder. 

“You’re my best friend, you know that right?” Her voice is a little bit teary.

“Yeah.” He’s a little bit breathless, a little bit stunned. He's in love with her, but this is enough for now; it feels like a fresh start. He wraps his arms around her, too, and holds her tight. “You’re mine, too.”

A loud cheer from their friends causes them to jump apart. Miller's scooped Raven up, twirling her around, and she's sreaming for him to put her down.

"I take it Raven's fixed it," Clarke says.

Bellamy hums in agreement, slinging his arm around her shoulder to tuck her into his side. "We've fixed a lot of things today."

**Author's Note:**

> come hang out over on [tumblr](http://bellakeyblake.tumblr.com)!


End file.
